AFGHANISTAN
Pakistani officials missing
Two officials from Pakistan’s consulate in eastern Afghanistan have gone missing during a road trip, Islamabad said yesterday, urging Kabul to ensure their safety. The incident came days after a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to war-torn Afghanistan. “Two officials of our Jalalabad Consulate General are missing since June 16 while commuting to Pakistan by road,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement said. “The matter has been raised with the relevant Afghan authorities, who have informed that all efforts were in hand to probe the incident.” Relations with Afghanistan have soured over claims that Islamabad secretly supports insurgents trying to topple the Afghan government. Afghan officials frequently accuse the nation of supporting the Taliban and providing sanctuary for the guerrillas on its soil in hopes of maintaining influence in Afghanistan.
EGYPT
Bomb kills policeman
A roadside bomb yesterday killed a policeman and wounded four others on a highway on the southern outskirts of Cairo, the interior ministry said. “A bomb buried by the side of the road exploded” as the vehicle drove by in the early hours of the morning, the ministry said in a statement. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but extremists have carried out many attacks on the police and army since the 2013 army toppling of former president Mohammed Morsi. The nation is fighting a long-running insurgency by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group in North Sinai Province, in which hundreds of soldiers and policemen have been killed. In past months, another militant group called Hasm Movement has claimed responsibility for attacks in Cairo and the Nile Delta, most of them targeting policemen.
UNITED STATES
Beyonce gives birth to twins
US singer Beyonce has given birth to twins in Los Angeles, several celebrity news Web sites reported yesterday, citing unidentified sources. Beyonce, 35, and rapper and music producer Jay Z already have a five-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy. E! News, citing multiple unidentified sources, reported the birth and that Jay Z and Blue Ivy were seen at a Los Angeles area hospital on Thursday. Us Weekly, also citing multiple unidentified sources, reported that the couple welcomed twins earlier this week. “Bey and Jay are thrilled and have started sharing the news with their family and closest friends,” one unidentified source told People. A representative for Beyonce did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The celebrity news Web sites did not provide additional details, such as the date and time the twins were born or the sex of the infants.
UNITED STATES
New Zealand expecting FTA
New Zealand Minister of Trade Todd McClay said the US signaled it was open to a free-trade agreement (FTA) when the time was right and did not see any major issues because of the good relationship between the two nations. “I’ve welcomed their interest in an FTA as a demonstration of the good shape our trading relationship is in,” McClay said yesterday following talks in Washington with Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and other officials. New Zealand has a target for 90 percent of its goods trade to be covered by FTAs by 2030. The nation will be an important part of achieving that goal and the discussions this week in Washington were encouraging, McClay said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was